Davos: A time to set clear goals for action

Davos was dark and quiet when the Alliance team arrived this morning, but the sun soon came out, along with political, business and academic leaders from around the world, here for this week’s annual World Economic Forum.

Dressed in suits and snow boots, many have stopped by the Davos Hub Pavillion where the Alliance is based, taking advantage of our free cups of car-powered hot chocolate. Yes, our hot-chocolate maker is being powered by the 100% electric Nissan LEAF which in turn has been charged with 100% renewable energy from Davos. To see our earlier post on this unique system, click here.

Today we met the likes of Sue Riddlestone and Pooran Desai of the BioRegional Development Group, as well as MIT Big Data guru and Nissan Advisory Board member Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland. They all spoke about the need for harnessing technology in order to create a sustainable future, to overcome the challenges posed by increasing inequality, and to clean up the polluted air in our cities, from Beijing to London.

Meanwhile, Nissan vice chairman Toshiyuki Shiga spoke to us about the need to refocus on the environment, now that the outlook for the world economy finally seems to be improving. And Simon Sproule, director for marketing communications at Renault-Nissan, explained why Davos is a great place to learn about new industries and trends.

From the use of electric vehicles in the Serengeti to reduce both air and noise pollution, to connected, autonomous cars to improve the efficiency of both transportation and the use of the world’s resources, we’re hearing about myriad of ways we can harness new technology in order to overcome challenges and to create opportunities – and we have only spoken to a handful of the thought leaders here so far.

The air in Davos is clear – the sun is out - and here at the Alliance hub we’re all set for common goals in 2014, leveraging shared and clear-sighted vision, too.